Alnwick Castle – a grand finale to my visit to Northumberland

On my last full day in Alnwick I visited Alnwick Castle, excited to see the film site that was “Hogwarts” in the first two Harry Potter movies. Harry, Ron and Hermione learned to ride their brooms on the inner lawn next to the curtain wall and Barbican (below), and today visitors young and old can sign up for a broom riding lesson.

The origins of the castle date from Norman times, and since 1309 the history of the castle has been linked with that of the Percy family. Home to the current Duke of Northumberland, Ralph Percy, and his family, Alwick is the second largest inhabited castle in the U.K. The current Duchess famously revived and expanded the beautiful and much lauded “Alnwick Gardens” which are located near the castle and also open to visitors.

I took two excellent guided tours of the grounds. One focused on the modern film history of the castle as many TV and movie productions as diverse as “Elizabeth” and “Transformers: The Last Knight” have been filmed here. The other tour described important events in the castle’s 950 year history, including its development over the centuries and its strategic importance to the region and to the fortunes of the Percy family.

Here are several photos taken from around the inner grounds of this large and historic castle.

The 14th century Constables Tower and a section of the outer defensive wall.

A view of the 12th century keep. Alnwick is one of the earliest castles in England to be built without a square keep.

An alternate view of the keep, featuring the exterior of the chapel.

Below are two views of the entrance gate that leads into the inner courtyard of the keep, and from there into the keep itself and the State Rooms.

Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside the stunning State Rooms (images are available online if you are interested). Spacious, elegant, and beautifully decorated in the Italian Rennaisance style, they are filled with treasure after treasure including paintings by the likes of Titian, Canaletto, and Van Dyke. The most valuable treasure is a pair of large Baroque cabinets that were made for Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles. The cabinets are described as “priceless”, and I overheard one guide say, “they are worth more than everything else put together”, and that is saying something! In 2012, the Duke of Northumberland sold several works of art from his vast collection in order to pay for repairs to buildings badly damaged by flood waters. Two items alone netted over 16 million British pounds – a 1st century Roman marble statue of Aphrodite, and a painting, “Garden of Eden” by Jan Brueghel the Elder. That is some garage sale!

After viewing the castle grounds and the impressive State Rooms, I exited and walked a distance away from the castle in order to get this image of just how massive it is.

I walked a little further downhill, away from the castle, and was drawn to the Lion Bridge in the distance.

I crossed over the scenic bridge to the north side of the River Aln, and then walked along the riverside path back towards the caste.

Such a beautiful scene and a peaceful day, nothing like it would have been with an invading army camped on my side of the river!

And here is a picture of me on my last full day in beautiful Northumberland. What a grand finale to an exceptional trip! The next day offered a scenic and restful train ride back up the northeast coast (there’s Lindisfarne!) and then on to Glasgow. I was feeling a little sad to end my voyage, but also very happy with all that I had seen and done, and I was also feeling eager for my planned stopover in Iceland where I would meet up with Sophie, Brent and Daniel for a six day visit. Thank you, very much, to everyone for coming along with me on this journey!

Pacific Spirit Park – Training Walks

Hello family and friends, and welcome back to my blog!

Well, I’m newly retired from teaching, and for much of the summer I’ve been training for my upcoming 147 km long distance walks in the U.K. First, I will walk 107 km on “St. Cuthbert’s Way” from Melrose in southern Scotland to the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne in Northumberland, Britain, staying in bed and breakfasts along the way. After two restful days on the island, I will walk a further 40 km south along the Northumberland Coast Path.

Highlights of these walks will include the abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh, and Lindisfarne, and the castles of Lindisfarne, Bamburgh, Dunstaburgh, Alnwick (of Harry Potter filming fame), and Warkworth, as well as lovely villages and lots of beautiful nature, countryside, and coastal beaches. I am so looking forward to it!

On my return flight from the U.K., I will have a stopover in Iceland and will stay for a week to visit Daniel who will be doing a university exchange term there, and Sophie and Brent will join us. I hope you will follow along on this adventure which will begin with my flight to Glasgow on August 21st.

A few weeks ago, I took some photos on one of my favourite walks in Pacific Spirit Park in order to do a “practice” blog to see if I still remember how!

For this walk, I park near the end of UBC’s College Highroad and enter on Spanish Trail to connect with Pioneer Trail. There are some lovely Vine maples at the start of this walk, and they are always vibrant with colour, joyous green in the Spring and Summer, and bright yellow-then-orange in the Fall.

Pioneer trail crosses Chancellor Boulevard, and shortly after the crossing I connect to the East Canyon trail which crosses one of the streams which form the “canyon” which is really a steep-sided ravine, thick with lush vegetation.

The principal big trees on this walk are Douglas fir:

Hemlock:

Cedar:

And broadleaf maple:

There are wonderful gardens of sword fern and bracken fern, and you can also find some maidenhair ferns on Admiralty Trail as it descends east of West Canyon trail.

Other understory plants include salal, Oregon grape, salmon berry, thimbleberry, snowberry (poisonous!), and native BC blackberry.

There are a multitude of kinds of mosses, lichens, and fungi as well adorning the trees, logs, and stumps in the forest.

Where East Canyon trail joins Admiralty trail, I turn right and enjoy the shaded cliff-top walk, with periodic views of Spanish Banks beach below.

Admiralty joins Pioneer Trail and descends to the Spanish Banks stream where I used to release salmon fry with my students.

At the beach, sometimes I walk west towards U.B.C., or east towards the city, but usually I scamper on the rocks and logs, and then have a nice sit down at the mouth of the stream. A few times, I’ve been lucky to be here when the crows are having a morning bath.

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Afterwards, I climb back up to the shade of Admiralty trail and head west along the cliff top until the descent to Acadia Beach where I can walk on the rocky, log-strewn beach to arrive at another lovely stream, just prior to the official start of Wreck Beach.

Finally, I climb back up to Admiralty again, connect to West Canyon trail this time, cross Chancellor, and then retrace my steps to return to my car, tired but happy. What a wonderful way to train for my upcoming long-distance walks – lovely shaded forest, clean streams, descents to beautiful beaches with city, ocean, and mountain views, and multiple choices of routes for variety. There is always bird song in the air, chiefly robins and chickadees, and I also feel lucky when I see a towhee, winter wren, pilleated woodpecker, or barred owl. I feel so blessed to have easy access to all of this in glorious Pacific Spirit Park!

Heading up West Canyon Trail, on the way home after a great training walk.